


It Should Have Been Me

by ACuriousParadox



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Charleston Shoe Thieves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26986945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACuriousParadox/pseuds/ACuriousParadox
Summary: In Season 9 of the Internet Blaseball League, the Charleston Shoe Thieves played a fated game against the Canada Moist Talkers during feedback weather.  Jaylen Hotdogfingers is pitching against them, still flickering.  Snyder Briggs and the rest of the team know what's coming, they just don't know who.
Kudos: 5
Collections: Charleston Shoe Thieves Fanfiction





	It Should Have Been Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! This is my first time writing in a long time and the first time writing here. I hope you like it!
> 
> Note: this piece was inspired by and is a spiritual successor to the events that happen in "On the Jaw" by SleepySappho. You can find that story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897071

Snyder Briggs is the last to walk into the clubhouse. They didn’t see the hit, all they heard was shouting and Esme and Jaylen storming off. They see the terror in Vel’s eyes. For a second they think about going over and comforting her, but they decide against it. Never was good with kids, and certainly not when they feel like this. Maybe they can talk about it next time she’s an adult again.

Even though the Shoe Talkers lost, it’s clear that’s not the only reason why everyone is so down. Simon and Stu are already out of their uniforms. Howell is trying to hold a straight face, but it’s clear to see the pain of losing a friend behind that mask. Hotbox has already floated through the vents. It and Snyder was supposed to catch up on Tunnel of Hands after the game, but it looks like they’d have to find another way to spend their evening. They see Cornelius and Richardson finish up their conversation, and they know they have to talk to the team GM about what happened today. As they make their way across the clubhouse, he sees Blood Hamburger, blankly staring into his locker, horrified at what he’d done.

Of course, it wasn’t his fault. As soon as the forecast was updated, the inevitability of the situation hit the team. Jaylen Hotdogfingers, now a Moist Talker, would be pitching against the Shoe Thieves in Feedback weather. Jaylen, of course, is the only player to come back from being incinerated. This left her with some… unusual qualities. She began to hit batters left and right, and those she hit seemed to be incinerated at a rate that blaseball had never seen. Truth be told, Snyder was kind of jealous of those beaned players. They’ve been lost ever since he came to this reality, and he’s never felt that they’ve fit in as a blaseball player. Getting incinerated seemed like the only way to get out, but Snyder had to watch teammate after teammate land on the wrong side of the rogue umpire’s judgment, with no relief of their own. They couldn’t even get hit by Jaylen, as Snyder was a pitcher themself.

Jaylen seems to have made some kind of deal though. No longer do hit batters have the mark of death. But it was clear that something still wasn’t right. Jaylen began to flicker. Nothing about her seemed stable, and that was made even more apparent due to her feedbacks. In less than a full season, Jaylen had been feedbacked three times, going to the Pies, back to the Garages, and to the Moist Talkers. And of course, the Moist Talkers are the team that the Shoe Thieves have feedbacked with the most. 

After Jaylen’s feedback, it’s clear she’ll pitch against Corn in the opener of the upcoming Moist Talkers/Shoe Thieves series. And when feedback weather was called for that game, that was the third strike. Everyone knew that that likely meant. One of the pitchers was leaving the team.

It couldn’t be Corn, as he was also on the mound that day. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief for that; losing the team’s founder and GM would be nearly unbearable. That left Gunther, Fitzgerald, Snyder, and Beasley. 

Snyder hadn’t mentioned it to anyone other than Hotbox, but they were hoping it would be them that got feedbacked. Their numbers had been awful for 4 straight seasons, and this season they were clearly the weakest part of the rotation. On top of that, Hotbox was the only teammate they were close to; yes, Stu and Esme helped set up a sloccer field for them, but no one else seemed to really understand the rules. Becoming a Moist Talker didn’t sound so bad, and Jaylen’s skill as a pitcher was clearly higher than Snyder’s. It seemed like the best case scenario for everyone.

The day of the game arrives. Typically bean-ball happy Jaylen doesn’t hit a single Shoe Talker for the whole game. The Moist Talkers are shutting out the Shoe Thieves, but that’s not what the team is focusing on. Everyone keeps waiting for the moment they see Jaylen flicker. But it doesn’t seem to be coming. The game drags on to the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth inning, and Jaylen looks as solid as she’s ever been. 

As the bottom of the ninth arrives, the Shoe Thieves need only get out three times without a flicker, and everyone would get to stay. After taking strike one, Howell hits a ground ball out. One gone. Esme hits another ground out on the first pitch she sees. She doesn’t want to give Jaylen any chances to flicker, even between pitches. That’s two. Blood steps up to the plate. His plan is to ground out, just like Howell and Esme. But he hits it a little too well into the gap. The whole of the Shoe Thieves hold their breath as Blood steps on first. They’d have to survive at least another batter.

Hotbox steps up to the plate. Shadows can’t sweat, but Snyder is certain it would have been if it was able. The first pitch is too high to ground out on, so Hotbox fouls it off. Snyder watches it soar into the stand, but when they turn back to the mound, Beasley has taken Jaylen’s place.

Beasley was having a fantastic season for the Shoe Thieves. In his last start, he pitched a sixteen-strikeout gem, which was the second most by anyone in a nine inning game. Everybody loved seeing his smiling face in the clubhouse each day, and giving him pats and treats when he had a particularly good outing. To see him wearing white instead of yellow was jarring to say the least. 

Snyder didn’t believe it at first. They rubbed their eyes to make sure they were seeing straight. The bulldog was still on the mound after they did. They turned to their side, and saw a confused, but not surprised, Jaylen sitting on the Shoe Thief bench. For a moment, everything had been in slow motion. But all of a sudden it snapped back. Gasps and sobbing from the rest of the bench. The sound of Esme’s glove being thrown against the concrete floor as she stormed into the clubhouse. Beasley delivered the pitch to Hotbox, who could only find air in its stunned swing. Blood began to slowly walk to second base, not even attempting to dodge a tag. 

And just like that it was over. Beasley only threw one pitch, but he was credited with the victory. Snyder could do nothing but sit on the bench and feel their blood start to boil, as the rest of the team slowly and silently filled the clubhouse.

Blood hasn’t moved since then. He walked in, sat down, and stared directly into his locker. Snyder wouldn’t be surprised to find him still there before batting practice tomorrow. Losing a teammate is always tough, but when you were so close to being safe… Snyder didn’t want to think about it anymore. They wanted to be angry. They wanted to be free from this hellish world of blaseball. They wanted to see his teammates smile as they pet Beasley. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

“It should have been me,” he confessed to Corn in his office.

“Come on now, Snyder,” Corn said, trying to calm the situation. “The blaseball gods work in mysterious ways. All we can do is lace up and play.”

“I don’t care about playing!” Snyder yelled back. “I don’t care about blaseball. The only thing I care about is y’all. And y’all would be much happier if it was me instead of him! Why do we have to be punished like this? Why can’t I just…”

“Get delaced?” Corn finishes his sentence. Incineration was commonly referred to as delacing among the Shoe Thieves.

Snyder couldn’t look Corn in the eyes, but nodded. “I’ve been terrible for years now. Y’all don’t need me here. I’m not doing anything but causing everyone here pain.”

Corn stood up. “Now Snyder, you know that’s not true.” He moves to put a hand on Snyder’s shoulder, but quickly recoils when he feels how hot they still are. “I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I mean look at me; started this whole team just so we could nab some shoes. But Beasley is in good hands. I know this hurts right now, but we’re all gonna be okay.”

Snyder sighed. It wasn’t about being okay. It was about righting a wrong, fixing something that you don’t have any hope of changing. But he could tell that Corn was trying his best. So they turned to him, put on a slight grin, and lied.

“Okay.”


End file.
